Peaches, pineapple and Dangerous Dave

LeRoy GoldmanThe Shadow Knows

Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 7, 2012 at 1:19 p.m.

David Petraeus was born in 1952. He graduated in the top 5 percent of his class at the U.S. Military Academy in 1974. While a cadet at the academy, he dated and subsequently married Holly Knowlton, the daughter of the then-West Point superintendent and four-star Gen. William Knowlton. They have two children.

Facts

Although the Shadow’s whereabouts remain unknown, readers can reach Goldman at tks12no12@gmail.com.

Petraeus was promoted to general in 2007 and in February of that year became commander of our forces in Iraq. In October 2008, he became commander of CENTCOM in Tampa, Fla., which is responsible for U.S. military operations in 20 countries from Egypt to Pakistan. In July 2010, Petraeus became the commanding general of our forces in Afghanistan. In July 2011, he retired from the military and was appointed director of the CIA.

One month ago, Petraeus' world imploded as the details of his affair with his biographer, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Paula Broadwell, became public.

On first blush, it would appear that all we have here is the tale of a super-achieving military officer and director of Central Intelligence brought down by his inability to keep his trousers zipped. And, given the fact that adultery is no longer problematic for millions of Americans, there is little doubt that many see the Petraeus-Broadwell affair as little more than an irrelevancy.

But, in fact, there is much more here to be troubled about than the sexual exploits of Broadwell and the man she called "Peaches" and "Dangerous Dave."

In a lengthy story in Newsweek in 2010, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, stated, "Afghanistan is very much Barack Obama's war of choice, a point that the president underscored recently by picking Gen. David Petraeus to lead an intensified counterinsurgency effort there."

American forces initially went to Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban and deny al-Qaida the use of that country as a training ground for international terrorism. They succeeded. The Taliban was defeated and most of the terrorists were killed or fled.

One can hardly underestimate the difference between the Afghan war in its early years and what it became in 2010 with Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy as the sharp end of Obama's escalation of the war.

Obama's escalation equated the resurgence of the Taliban with the return of al-Qaida, an assumption that has never been proven. And it led to Obama turning what was a war of necessity for the United States in 2001 into a war of choice — Obama's choice. And Obama's choice was to attempt to strengthen the will and capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and the Karsai government in Kabul so that together they could successfully secure Afghanistan's future.

Although Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy worked in Iraq, it has failed in Afghanistan. In Iraq, we had a willing partner, the Sunni Muslims. In Afghanistan, we lack such a partner. Haass concluded that "the war the United States is now fighting in Afghanistan is not succeeding and is not worth waging in this way."

He was right at the time he made that assessment in the summer of 2010, and more than two years later, it's still correct. Murderous "insider attacks" by Afghan security forces against the American troops who trained them is not a metric that could justify yet another medal or ribbon on Petraeus' service jacket. There are enough of them there already to cause curvature of the spine.

However, Petraeus managed to leave Afghanistan before being tarnished with the fallout from his failed strategy. Barton Gellman, who writes Spyfall in Time Magazine, tells us, "Patraeus' move from rock-star four-star to head of the CIA in 2011 came as a surprise in Washington. He had served only a year in Afghanistan and seemed destined to rise to the top of the military at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But former CIA director Bob Gates told him otherwise: Obama's White House did not want him in that role. It was Petraeus' idea in response, to move to Langley, a close friend says. That solved a lot of problems for Obama, allowing him good use of the general's talents and diverting him from a possible presidential bid."

Imagine that John McCain had been elected president in 2008, and Petraeus had sold his Afghan counterinsurgency strategy to him. The entire Democratic Party would have been in the streets in protest, and leading the parade would have been the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama!

Petraeus is an extreme example of a military culture gone nuts. How about escorts of 28 police motorcycles for him to visit socialite Jill Kelley in Tampa? How about executive jets, palatial homes, drivers, security guards, gourmet chefs and string quartets for their dinner parties? Is it any wonder that when he got to Langley, Peaches/Dangerous Dave insisted that fresh pineapple be available at his beside each night? Wonder if he was thoughtful enough to have pineapple for two on the nights he was with his paramour, Paula?

There are more than a thousand generals and admirals. Not one of them had the courage to resign over an Afghan war policy that was ill-conceived and has failed. Retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam, recently stated that we'd be better off getting rid of two-thirds of them. If he's wrong, he's wrong on the low side.

The Shadow's got the inside track for the vacancy at Langley, but Goldman can be reached at tks12no12@gmail.com.

<p>David Petraeus was born in 1952. He graduated in the top 5 percent of his class at the U.S. Military Academy in 1974. While a cadet at the academy, he dated and subsequently married Holly Knowlton, the daughter of the then-West Point superintendent and four-star Gen. William Knowlton. They have two children.</p><p>Petraeus was promoted to general in 2007 and in February of that year became commander of our forces in Iraq. In October 2008, he became commander of CENTCOM in Tampa, Fla., which is responsible for U.S. military operations in 20 countries from Egypt to Pakistan. In July 2010, Petraeus became the commanding general of our forces in Afghanistan. In July 2011, he retired from the military and was appointed director of the CIA.</p><p>One month ago, Petraeus' world imploded as the details of his affair with his biographer, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Paula Broadwell, became public.</p><p>On first blush, it would appear that all we have here is the tale of a super-achieving military officer and director of Central Intelligence brought down by his inability to keep his trousers zipped. And, given the fact that adultery is no longer problematic for millions of Americans, there is little doubt that many see the Petraeus-Broadwell affair as little more than an irrelevancy.</p><p>But, in fact, there is much more here to be troubled about than the sexual exploits of Broadwell and the man she called "Peaches" and "Dangerous Dave."</p><p>In a lengthy story in Newsweek in 2010, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, stated, "Afghanistan is very much Barack Obama's war of choice, a point that the president underscored recently by picking Gen. David Petraeus to lead an intensified counterinsurgency effort there."</p><p>American forces initially went to Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban and deny al-Qaida the use of that country as a training ground for international terrorism. They succeeded. The Taliban was defeated and most of the terrorists were killed or fled.</p><p>One can hardly underestimate the difference between the Afghan war in its early years and what it became in 2010 with Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy as the sharp end of Obama's escalation of the war.</p><p>Obama's escalation equated the resurgence of the Taliban with the return of al-Qaida, an assumption that has never been proven. And it led to Obama turning what was a war of necessity for the United States in 2001 into a war of choice — Obama's choice. And Obama's choice was to attempt to strengthen the will and capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and the Karsai government in Kabul so that together they could successfully secure Afghanistan's future.</p><p>Although Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy worked in Iraq, it has failed in Afghanistan. In Iraq, we had a willing partner, the Sunni Muslims. In Afghanistan, we lack such a partner. Haass concluded that "the war the United States is now fighting in Afghanistan is not succeeding and is not worth waging in this way."</p><p>He was right at the time he made that assessment in the summer of 2010, and more than two years later, it's still correct. Murderous "insider attacks" by Afghan security forces against the American troops who trained them is not a metric that could justify yet another medal or ribbon on Petraeus' service jacket. There are enough of them there already to cause curvature of the spine.</p><p>However, Petraeus managed to leave Afghanistan before being tarnished with the fallout from his failed strategy. Barton Gellman, who writes Spyfall in Time Magazine, tells us, "Patraeus' move from rock-star four-star to head of the CIA in 2011 came as a surprise in Washington. He had served only a year in Afghanistan and seemed destined to rise to the top of the military at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But former CIA director Bob Gates told him otherwise: Obama's White House did not want him in that role. It was Petraeus' idea in response, to move to Langley, a close friend says. That solved a lot of problems for Obama, allowing him good use of the general's talents and diverting him from a possible presidential bid."</p><p>Imagine that John McCain had been elected president in 2008, and Petraeus had sold his Afghan counterinsurgency strategy to him. The entire Democratic Party would have been in the streets in protest, and leading the parade would have been the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama!</p><p>Petraeus is an extreme example of a military culture gone nuts. How about escorts of 28 police motorcycles for him to visit socialite Jill Kelley in Tampa? How about executive jets, palatial homes, drivers, security guards, gourmet chefs and string quartets for their dinner parties? Is it any wonder that when he got to Langley, Peaches/Dangerous Dave insisted that fresh pineapple be available at his beside each night? Wonder if he was thoughtful enough to have pineapple for two on the nights he was with his paramour, Paula?</p><p>There are more than a thousand generals and admirals. Not one of them had the courage to resign over an Afghan war policy that was ill-conceived and has failed. Retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam, recently stated that we'd be better off getting rid of two-thirds of them. If he's wrong, he's wrong on the low side.</p><p>The Shadow's got the inside track for the vacancy at Langley, but Goldman can be reached at tks12no12@gmail.com.</p>